A supermoon + blue moon + lunar eclipse = #superbluebloodmoon, a rare celestial phenomenon that captivated the world on January 31, 2018.
I captured a timelapse of the supermoon on the night of January 30th approximately twelve hours before the lunar eclipse. During a supermoon the moon appears larger in the sky and significantly brighter. This is due to the orbit reaching its closest approach to earth (the perigee) in conjunction with a full moon.
I drove 45min north to Charlotte, North Carolina to film the moon passing behind the Bank of America Corporate Center, the tallest building in the state. Using the Moon Seeker app on my iPhone, I knew where the moon would rise. I chose an exit off-ramp near the Carolina Panther’s stadium and filmed for almost 20 minutes using a 70-200mm lens with a 2x teleconverter. The tripod positioning was just right to capture the moon passing behind the spires of the crown as the sky grew dark.
I put it online through the Tried & True Facebook page. Throughout the next day we received dozens of media requests. Filming and posting the clip was an attempt to capitalize on supermoon interest to gain earned media exposure locally and nationally for this production company. The clip was filmed in 4k and downscaled to 1920X1080p (full HD) so that I could add a digital zoom in post.
In the two days following the event, the clip was shared by thousands of people and viewed online over 1 million times cumulatively across multiple platforms. It was broadcast nationally on HLN and appeared locally on the Charlotte ABC, CBS and NBC affiliates. CNN even paired our timelapse with footage from NASA. Because Reuters and Storyful.com picked up the clip, it has run in a number of newspaper sites around the world including The Washington Post.
What a once in a blue super blood moon opportunity. This timelapse show’s last night’s #SuperBlueBloodMoon rising behind the Bank of America Tower in Charlotte, NC. pic.twitter.com/6M1wXjk3ha
— AMHQ (@AMHQ) January 31, 2018
